Extra funding approved for key flood defence work

Improvements to key flood defences can continue over the summer after nearly £1m of funding was signed off.

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) is working with the Environment Agency (EA) to make changes to the River Sowy and King's Sedgemoor Drain, which divert water from the River Parrett and the River Cary into the Bristol Channel.

Work has been carried out over the last two years to remove silt from the riverbanks and bridges to help increase capacity.

The SRA said £915,000 will now be provided to carry out bank raising work, which should be completed before the end of the summer, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

Bank raising work will be carried out near Chedzoy and Westonzoyland, providing further flood protection and increasing the overall capacity of the river.

Caroline Murray from the Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium (SDBC) told the SRA board the bank raising would be carried out to EA specification, but with the Parrett Internal Drainage Board as the delivery partner.

SDBC chairman Iain Sturdy indicated the chosen contractor would take around a fortnight to set up, with the entire project expected to take 12 weeks to complete.

Parrett Internal Drainage Board vice-chair Rebecca Horsington added: "I'm really chuffed this piece of work is going to finally get done, because I do think it's really important."

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